Christian Bale's wife pushed "American Hustle" role

Christian Bale's wife is responsible for his role in 'American Hustle'.

'The Dark Knight' star admits that as a perfectionist he worried he wouldn't have enough time to prepare for his role in the '70s crime drama, as well as a role in Terrence Malick's 'Knight of Cups', but his spouse Sibi Blazic urged Malick and 'Hustle' director David O'Russell to keep pestering him to commit to the films.

Bale revealed: ''With 'Hustle', I needed a lot of time to prepare and just didn't think I could do it properly. And I would come home to post-it notes on my door from David saying, 'Come on, let's do this!'

''Without telling me, my wife called them both and said, 'Yeah, he can do it.'

''Look, I'm always trying to back out because I'm always convinced I won't be able to do it. But thank God I did.''

O'Russell, who previously helped Bale win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor after directing him 'The Fighter', is certainly pleased the actor relented and took a role in the film.

He told Variety: ''Christian underwent a deep soul transformation for this part. It's in his eyes, how he becomes this person.''

'American Hustle' also features Bale's 'Fighter' co-star Amy Adams, as well as Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, who previously starred in 'Silver Linings Playbook', which was also helmed by O'Russell.